THE PAST FROM ABOVE
There he is, in the back of a plane, crouched at the rear of a twin-engine aircraft[1]. Half sitting and half lying down next to where the cargo chute would normally be. The doors are off. Camera ready.
It's windy, sometimes bitterly cold. The kind of cold that causes your fingers to seize, stealing every bit of focus when it's time to tell your index finger to take the shot. All of these conditions are made worth it by the thrill- it’s the best part of the job. The experience is what makes it all worth it (and the final images, of course).
Swiss-based journalist and aerial photographer Georg Gerster was a pioneer in aerial photography[2], logging countless flight hours without ever holding a pilot’s license. Since beginning his career as a freelance journalist in 1956, he learned many languages and explored every corner of the globe, from ancient temples in Sudan to the edges of Antarctica, and the lush green fields of Iran. Gerster’s work, published in National Geographic and celebrated in exhibitions like the British Museum’s 2006 retrospective, stands as a testament to his 50 years of dedication to the preservation of history. His images (mostly shot on film) often give you a vast experience of color, space, and temporality. The location, often hard to depict. But it is often presented from a unique vantage point, in a way that resembles a visceral artwork from the works of contemporary painter Richard Diebenkorn[3].
"I see my best aerial photographs as a kick-start for flights of thought. The aerial picture is a tool of reflection. From high up, one sees not only what is, but just as well what could be – the inventory of our possibilities."
He was revered among many institutions, politicians, dictators, and empresses for his ability to distill the complex histories of human intervention on our ecosystems into a single negative[4]. His perspective on the world from above came to us during a time when public access to aerial views was limited—well before Google Earth[5], when drones weren’t available to the public. Gerster valued his many lived experiences, especially the value and perspective from above, always finding ways of translating those experiences through his aerial photography.
